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Art History Major

Study the theory, history and philosophy of art; learn to research and write about artworks; and gain expertise on art objects from a variety of cultures and periods.

Art history majors and minors examine the imagery of their own and other cultures, exploring questions concerning historical method, cultural diversity, feminism and critical theory.

Study architecture and fresco painting in Italy; the art of African artists and of artists of African descent in the Americas; the history of cities and gardens; issues of gender and the body; and the social history of North American art, including Native American traditions.

Our professors in the Art History Program, a joint effort by Pomona and Scripps colleges, with affiliated faculty at Pitzer College, address European, North American, African, African Diaspora, Native American and Asian topics.

Researching at Pomona

An Analysis of the ‘Classic’ & ‘Modern’ in Diego Rivera’s Flower Day

Barbara Joy Peisch '19 learned how modern art involves sentiments of the past and present: it can serve as propaganda for future progress and preexisting traditions. She explored this dynamism in Rivera’s painting: he uses iconography representative of classic Mesoamerican history, renders his subjects in Modernist style, and composes his works under the influence of Greco-Roman Classicism.

Vivienne Yixuan Shi '19

Art reflects the artist’s and patron’s mindset. It’s fascinating to see and study how intangible, fluid things such as cultures and beliefs visually translate into something concrete.

Faculty & Teaching

Our faculty’s expertise in art history spans the centuries from ancient to modern, and includes architecture and urban planning, photography, film, museum history and contemporary museum practices, critical race theory, and public art.

Professor Frances Pohl

Art history is an exciting interdisciplinary major that helps students see the world, both past and present, in new ways. It does this through close engagement with works of art and the people and histories that produced them. In drawing on art practices and art historical writing from across the globe, art history hones students’ critical thinking, creating new possibilities for meaningful cross-cultural dialogues.